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OustedStrongman t1_izgyxz7 wrote

Reply to comment by Chiefdaroga in Hey Penobscot, two of your senators skipped work and couldn't vote for the bill to approve heating assistance today. It failed by 3 votes. by victorspoilz

this was a vote to pass it on an emergency basis which requires a 2/3 vote to pass. it will come back in January when it will pass on a majority basis which will then take a certain amount of time to go into effect (30 days?).

The R senators delayed the inevitable for 2 or so months because they're betting that they can grandstand on some small provisions of the bill to score political points.

I think it is a bad bet on their part; it makes them look petty to me. But what do I know?

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salvelinustrout t1_izhf917 wrote

Unfortunately not thirty days. Non emergency bills take effect ninety days after the date of adjournment. Under normal circumstances the legislature wouldn’t adjourn until around June 15. It’s possible if they truly couldn’t get it done as an emergency they’d adjourn and then immediately call themselves back for a special session to do all their normal work. It’s a weird loophole and probably an administrative headache but has been done before. Even still, that would mean the funds wouldn’t be available until the end of March, which will be too late for a lot of folks.

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OustedStrongman t1_izivdf9 wrote

Thank you for the explanation. Gives the Republicans more leverage. So what do you think their endgame is?

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